Elias Says...

NBA

James

LEBRON'S STREAK OF 20-POINT GAMES IS OVER

LeBron James was held to 13 points in Cleveland's loss at Detroit on Saturday night, ending his streak of 49 consecutive games scoring at least 20 points. LeBron failed in his attempt to become only the seventh player in NBA history to score 20-or-more points in 50 consecutive games within one season. Two active players have done that (Kobe Bryant and Allen Iverson) as did four retired players (Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Michael Jordan).

Al Thornton scored 39 points for in the Clippers win against Memphis on Saturday night. That was the most points scored by an NBA rookie in a non-OT game in four years - since Carmelo Anthony had 41 against Seattle on March 30, 2004.

Allen Iverson was 4-for-20 (.200) from the field in Denver's win against Golden State on Saturday night. It's only the fifth regular-season game in Iverson's career in which he's attempted at least 20 shots and converted no more than 20 percent of them. He's had three games of that type in the postseason.

Marcus Camby had 12 rebounds, six assists and five blocked shots in the Nuggets victory. It's the sixth time this season he's had a 10/5/5 (rebounds/assists/blocks) game. No other NBA player has had more than one game of that type this season. In fact, Camby broke his tie with the rest of the league; all other NBA players have combined for five such games this season.

When Shaquille O'Neal made his Suns debut on February 20, his new teammate Amare Stoudemire had 37 points and 15 rebounds in a Phoenix loss to the Lakers. On Saturday night in New Jersey, Stoudemire had another 30/15 game (33 points and 15 rebounds) in a 110-104 victory for the Suns. Those are the only two games in Shaq's career in which he played and one of his teammates scored 30-or-more points and had at least 15 rebounds. It never happened when he was with the Magic, the Lakers or the Heat.

Larry Hughes scored a team-high 19 points for Chicago in a 114-111 win over the Bucks on Saturday night. That's the second-most points scored by the Bulls in the last 13 seasons in a game in which none of their players contributed at least 20 points. On April 15, 2005 Chicago defeated Orlando 117-77 without a 20-point scorer.

MLB

ASTROS RELEASE WOODY WILLIAMS

Woody Williams, who was released by the Astros on Saturday, was 0-3 with an 11.32 ERA during spring training this year. That is the second-highest earned run average for any major-league pitcher who has thrown at least 15 innings this spring, behind Philadelphia's J.D. Durbin, who is 0-4 with an 11.57 ERA.

The Capitals, in their final road game of the season, beat Florida 3-0, with Alex Ovechkin contributing a goal and an assist. Ovechkin scored 33 goals in road games this season. It's a Washington franchise record for road goals in one season the old mark was 30 by Dennis Maruk in 1981-82 and the highest single-season total by any NHL player since 1992-93, when Mario Lemieux and Steve Yzerman each scored 33 goals on the road.

Rookie David Krejci, who scored two points in each end of Boston's home-and-home series with Toronto in mid-week, had three points (one goal, two assists) in the Bruins' 4-0 win over Ottawa on Saturday afternoon. Krejci is only the second rookie to record two-or-more points in each of three consecutive team games this season; Chicago's Patrick Kane did that in October. Krejci is the first Bruins rookie with three straight multiple-point games since Joe Juneau in the 1992-93 season.

Rookies Anton Stralman and Jiri Tlusty each scored two goals for the Maple Leafs in their 4-2 win over the Canadiens. It was the first time that Toronto had two rookies each score two goals in the same game since Feb. 2, 1983, when Dan Daoust and Walt Poddubny both scored twice in a 7-1 Leafs win over the Hartford Whalers.

Daniel Briere scored a goal and had the winning shootout attempt as the Flyers beat the Islanders on Saturday night. Briere struggled in February, scoring only two goals in 14 games, but he's scored nine goals in 14 games this month. Briere's nine goals in March tied his career high for a calendar month; he scored nine times for Buffalo in October 2005.

NCAA Men's Basketball

HANSBROUGH LEADS THE WAY FOR NORTH CAROLINA

Tyler Hansbrough had 28 points and 13 rebounds in North Carolina's victory over Louisville in the Regional Final. Since 1980, only one other player had at least 28 points and 13-or-more rebounds in an Elite Eight game: Juwan Howard (30/13) in a loss to Arkansas in 1994.

With Saturday night's 83-73 victory over Louisville, North Carolina has now won each of its four NCAA tournament games this year by at least 10 points. The last three teams to enter the Final Four with four double-digit margins of victory all went on to win the tournament: Michigan State in 2000, Duke in 2001 and Connecticut in 2004.

Kevin Love, who won the Most Outstanding Player award in the West Regional, had 19 points, 10 rebounds and four assists in UCLA's Elite Eight victory over Xavier on Saturday. Since 1995, only two other players reached those totals in all three categories in a Regional Final, Final Four or NCAA Championship Game and each of them did it in 2003: Carmelo Anthony in the NCAA Championship Game vs. Kansas (20 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists) and Dwyane Wade against Kentucky in the Elite Eight (29 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists).

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute had 13 points and 13 rebounds for the Bruins. He's the first UCLA player with at least 13 points and 13-or-more rebounds in a Regional Final game since Sidney Wicks had 18 points and 15 rebounds against Long Beach State on March 20, 1971.